B. Alan Wallace compares the Theravada meditative practice of "attending to the emblem of consciousness" to the practice in Mahamudra and Dzogchen of "maintaining the mind upon non-conceptuality", which is also aimed at focusing on the nature of consciousness. - B. Alan Wallace, The bridge of quiescence: experiencing Tibetan Buddhist meditation. Carus Publishing Company, 1998, page 257.

Anybody know what this "emblem of consciousness" is? I've never heard of this term.

Vision is MindMind is EmptyEmptiness is Clear LightClear Light is UnionUnion is Great Bliss

Hi Mr PinkInteresting. My wife brought home his book 'The Attention Revolution' after hearing him and some other luminaries speak at the 'Mind and its Potential' conference in Sydney this week. I'm looking forward to reading it and maybe I'll be able to answer your question. - though I suspect the book is a secular presentation of samatha for allied health and educational professionals.kind regards

Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Tilt is most likely right, though when I first read the statement, the terms "nimitta" and "lakkhana" also came to mind, otherwise known as "sign", "characteristic", "mark", and so forth.

My recently moved Blog, containing some of my writings on the Buddha Dhamma, as well as a number of translations from classical Buddhist texts and modern authors, liturgy, etc.: Huifeng's Prajnacara Blog.

Tilt is most likely right, though when I first read the statement, the terms "nimitta" and "lakkhana" also came to mind, otherwise known as "sign", "characteristic", "mark", and so forth.

Tilt is absolutely right given that he looked in the glossary in Wallace's book, THE BRIDGE OF QUIESCENCE, page 304.

I thought that would be the next post! haha!

My recently moved Blog, containing some of my writings on the Buddha Dhamma, as well as a number of translations from classical Buddhist texts and modern authors, liturgy, etc.: Huifeng's Prajnacara Blog.

But there are lessons to be learnt in the European example of when the bible (and all such church teachings) were only transmitted in Latin. The general population simply will have no idea.

A balance must be struck. But there are differences of opinion on where exactly that balance is.

My recently moved Blog, containing some of my writings on the Buddha Dhamma, as well as a number of translations from classical Buddhist texts and modern authors, liturgy, etc.: Huifeng's Prajnacara Blog.

Also, those English speakers interested in Theravada are used to certain choices of word for translations, which often date back to quite early translations. We've learned to live with those, and perhaps forget that many terms in "our" translations can be rather confusing to newcomers. The scholars who translated Tibetan texts are a different group, and tend to use different words. Perhaps "Emblem of Conciousness" is common in English-language Tibetan texts...

i don't recall ever coming across it in my mahayana days, but that really doesnt mean much..

i understand what you guy are saying, but there are many reasons why certain pali/Sanskrit words arent/shouldnt be translated, some because the english meaning doesn't fully convey the original others just because they come out sounding absurd, such as when names of some bodhisattvas are translated into their literal english equivalents in some sutras i've read...

สัพเพ สัตตา สุขีตา โหนตุ

the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat

B. Alan Wallace compares the Theravada meditative practice of "attending to the emblem of consciousness" to the practice in Mahamudra and Dzogchen of "maintaining the mind upon non-conceptuality", which is also aimed at focusing on the nature of consciousness. - B. Alan Wallace, The bridge of quiescence: experiencing Tibetan Buddhist meditation. Carus Publishing Company, 1998, page 257.

Unlike the other kasiṇas, viññāṇa-kasiṇa is never treated in any detail in Pali sources. In the Visuddhimagga Buddhaghosa doesn't deal with it at all, instead substituting the light-kasiṇa, which isn't mentioned in the Suttas. Given the extreme paucity of data about viññāṇa-kasiṇa, I don't see how it could be compared with Mahamudra or Dzogchen (or anything else) with much sense of certitude.

Again, Udayin, I have proclaimed to my disciples the way to develop the ten kasiṇa bases. [...] One contemplates the consciousness kasiṇa above, below, and across, undivided and immeasurable. And thereby many disciples of mine abide having reached the perfection and consummation of direct knowledge.(MN. 77)

That's about all the Suttas have to say. Then there's an intriguing statement in the Nettipakaraṇa:

There are ten kasiṇa bases: the earth kasiṇa, water kasiṇa, fire kasiṇa, air kasiṇa, blue-black kasiṇa, yellow kasiṇa, red kasiṇa, white kasiṇa, space kasiṇa, and consciousness kasiṇa. Herein, the eight kasiṇas from the earth and water kasiṇas down to the white kasiṇa are calm (samatha). The space kasiṇa and consciousness kasiṇa are insight (vipassanā).(Netti. 89)